PISCATAWAY - The country music duo Big & Rich will be in concert prior to the annual Rutgers spring football game.

That concert might feature the last big hits performed that day.

The Scarlet-White game might not feature any tackling this year because of injury concerns, Rutgers coach Chris Ash indicated Thursday.

The intrasquad game is scheduled for 5 p.m. April 22 at High Point Solutions Stadium, following the concert. Admission to both events is free. But based on what Ash said after his team’s 10th practice of the spring, the Scarlet-White game may resemble an open practice rather than a simulated game.

“We’re dealing with the typical bumps and bruises of spring right now,” Ash said. “We’re still debating on whether to be live or not because we just don’t have the depth, and we cannot afford to have somebody hurt.”

In the parlance of football practice, “live” means that anyone is eligible to be hit and potentially knocked to the ground, whether by being blocked or tackled. Typically, all the players are live in spring games except for the quarterbacks, to protect them from injury.

If Ash and his coaching staff decide not to go live for the spring game, defensive players, for instance, will hit and then hold up ball carriers as opposed to tackling them to the ground.

“Right now we’re at the point,” Ash said, “where we’ve had some good, productive live scrimmages during the spring. We will not go live at all again this spring until potentially the spring game and then we just have to make a decision on what type of spring game we’re going to have.

“We’d still have a spring game,” he added, “but it just wouldn’t be live to the ground.”

However Ash and his staff decide to set up the event, whether as a practice or as a simulated game, it will be similar to his first one as Rutgers coach in at least one aspect. Just as the Scarlet Knights did last year, the first-stringers will face second-stringers on both sides of the ball. In other words, the current starters on offense will play against the defensive second-stringers, and vice versa.

The first-stringers will wear scarlet with the second-stringers in white uniforms.

“I know there are so many different ways people do spring games,” Ash said. “I just go off of my experience. We've had discussions about it as a staff. We really want our (first-string) offense and (first-string) defense to work together. Those 11 players that have been practicing for what will be 14 practices when we get to that point, we want them to stay together and work on that chemistry.”

“Hopefully it's a beautiful day out,” he said, “and a lot of people come and it creates a great environment for the recruits to see.”

Spring practice will conclude on April 22, and then Ash and his staff will dive into the spring evaluation period.

Although Rutgers has yet to secure a 2018 commitment, Ash feels good about the interaction he and his coaching staff have had with recruits, many of whom have attended spring practices and also gotten a chance to become familiar with the routine of a Rutgers football player during a typical day.

“The spring game is great and all that,” Ash said, “but I love to have them here to watch us practice and get a chance to sit in meetings and get a chance for us to spend time with them. You can't do that stuff with the spring game. We don't have meetings. There is so much going on. It's hard to get an opportunity to meet with them individually, especially if a bunch of them show up.”

When questioned about the fact that Rutgers hasn’t landed a 2018 commitment yet, Ash replied, “What is today's date?”

He then added, “I'm not concerned about that one bit. … I'm worried about commitments on the first Wednesday in February.”